Here’s a twist I wasn’t expecting. “A bipartisan bill to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies has attracted 16 Republican co-sponsors, according to an official list obtained first by POLITICO.” The group is threatening to use a discharge petition to force a vote on the measure if Moses Mike doesn’t allow it.
The Kiggans-Gottheimer bill would extend enhanced premium tax credits for one year with new income caps and guardrails to crack down on fraud. The bill would also require a vote by July 2026 on other policies designed to reduce Americans’ health insurance premiums.
The bill currently counts the support of a total of 38 members, including Kiggans and Gottheimer. The Republican co-sponsors so far are Reps. Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota of New York; Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez of Florida; Jeff Van Drew and Tom Kean of New Jersey; David Valadao and Kevin Kiley of California; Juan Ciscomani of Arizona; Jeff Hurd of Colorado; Don Bacon of Nebraska; and Monica De La Cruz of Texas.
I see my rep, Mike Lawler, on the list. I’m sure he realizes he doesn’t have a prayer of being re-elected next year if Medicaid tanks. He promised for months he would protect Medicaid, and then he voted for the Big Ugly Bill. People noticed.
The Senate is supposed to vote on two bills today to “fix” the subsidy problem. Neither is expected to pass.
The bill from the Democrats would extend the current subsidies for three years. The Republican bill is the one I wrote about yesterday, in which people under 50 who are losing the subsidy will instead get a whole $1,000 they can put in a Health Savings Account to help them with out-of-pocket expenses for a whole year, provided they pay for a high-deductible “bronze” account that has thousands of dollars in deductibles. Those from age 50 t0 Medicare age get $1,500. This will work for people who don’t need medical care, but if you do, you’re screwed. But as I said, neither is expected to pass.
I suppose we can have faint hope that the House bill will get voted on and the Senate will pass the House bill and that Trump would sign it.
See also The Senate is set to vote on 2 rival health plans. Here’s what’s at stake for Americans from the Associated Press. Good backgrounder.
Update: I understand neither bill made it past cloture. So they’re nixed.
In other news — a federal judge has ordered the long-suffering Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be released from ICE custody. See this very good explanation of what’s going on by David Kurtz at TPM — The Cruelest Irony of the Abrego Garcia Case.
Stuff to read — see John Roberts’s Dream Is Finally Coming True by David Daley at The Atlantic. It begins,
In 1982, when the Voting Rights Act was up for reauthorization, the Reagan Justice Department had a goal: preserve the VRA in name only, while rendering it unenforceable in practice. A young John Roberts was the architect of that campaign. He may soon get to finish what he started.
Update update: This just in — Justice Department again fails to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James. This was the third attempt. I say they’ve struck out. Will Trump make them try again?
O.T. yay I get to keep my democratic congress critter for now! Hey diaper don go fuck yourself!
https://apnews.com/article/indiana-lawmakers-redistricting-final-vote-80e3e546fc7acec4a7bd7cd110787375
The focus of the democratic administration that takes over in 2028 should be cleaning up the messes left by Trump, everything from removing all the faux "gold" from the white house and his name off everything, and make him pay for the restoration of the East Wing. Investigate all the corruption and claw back any public funds scammed by Trump, his family and friends, that may may have found its way into private coffers. Fire any one in government hired by Trump, and call them "reverse" DEI hires, because none of 'em were qualified. Fire every last "ICE" thug he's hired and prosecute any who can be identified that participated in constitutional civil rights violations. Investigate Kristi Gnome, Kegseth, Sean "Real World" Duffy, Kashapp Patel and prosecute every lawbreaker they find that Trump hasn't or can't pardon. Make disbarment of Pam Bondi a goal. Leticia James should be on the democrats short list for AG when they win in 2028 to coordinate and lead that effort.
I don’t want to hear any of that cowardly “let’s look forward, not back” handwringing they sheepishly crowed after Bush II. I don’t want to hear “the people want the two parties to work together” as an excuse to pretend what happened didn’t, and to do nothing. They need to do this so that people know in retrospect, just how damaging, dangerous and downright awful the Trump regime and his GOP enablers were to the nation.
A few bloggers have observed that generally, Republicans want to rule, while Democrats want to govern. Elections are a major handicap to the GOP since the bigoted rabble expect food and health care for themselves. The GOP runs the risk (for now) of losing power if the needs of swing voters in swing states are better met by the policies of Democrats than the Trumpian party.
Abandoning principles of democracy, like free and fair elections, becomes necessary in the quest to maintain power as your policies lose their appeal with voters. Eventually, abandoning elections, except as an empty ritual, becomes essential to retain power. Eradicating opposition in the open becomes public policy.
I'm not confident that the GOP has a workable transition from having elections (which requires maintaining some popularity) and suspending elections to consolidate an absolute dictatorship. There are risks – if you advocate unconstitutional cancellation of elections, and you are a member of Congress, it's not an opinion protected by free speech if you vote for a coup. You might go to jail if things go badly. I have my doubts that a solid majority of Republicans are comfortable with being charged and tried for insurrection.
I'm also not sure when the USSC will decide as a careful calculation that Trump will fail and they aren't going to hand down decisions that will leave them open to removal by Congress through impeachment with possible criminal prosecution depending on the level of collusion with the White House that can be proven.
Health care is a matter of life and death for those without it. People with health care won't be indifferent to the plight of millions without. So this is a political biggie for the GOP in that it draws the Congress closer to the moment they will have to side with a coup to hold back the masses with torches and pitchforks. The Republicans in Congress are weasels without principle – they want power, but they don't care for risk – not at the go-to-jail level that a break with the Constitution makes them party to.
I don't think they will extend the subsidies. The GOP will hope that Trump can work some populist magic in the next year and everything will turn out OK. I doubt that. So Congress will be ordered to line up behind Trump in the coup to give it legitimacy. Because the military will resist what Trump will order – and Trump needs the generals to fear Trump more than they love the Constitution. So to look bigger and badder, Trump will want all the cover he can assemble.
The political air is filled with balloons wasting hot air on healthcare. All will fail as they should. Politicians generally do not know it as a need but as a luxury item. A luxury item for the owner of the coal mine and investors in the coal mine but not so much even as need for the coal miner as an individual. How much a need? Mostly as little as their political coffers will let them get away with. That varies a lot.
Is it too late for healthcare after you get black lung? Sure. What causes it is no mystery. Proper health care would avoid exposure. That will never happen. The politics will not let it.
Those costs would cut into profits "needed" for Brazilian butt lifts and the like. We can't have that!
Good read:
https://kyla.substack.com/p/everyone-is-gambling-and-no-one-is
I read this linked newsletter…it's quite thorough as well as scary and potentially discouraging. IMO the diagnosis of the situation we find ourselves in seems accurate and insightful, and it crosses all levels of scale from global to local communities. Scary because it is so complex and overwhelming.
And the newsletter may be discouraging because the problem that is laid out is so daunting, that there may seem to be an impetus to just give up and go for "distraction" to stay sane. But the way I see it, if we recognize and accept the enormity of the problem, it can also mean that we have no choice but to do something. What that thing is will vary from person to person. And I think it is important to understand that the work of resisting the slide into autocracy needs to be grounded in local action. Operating on the local level can be less intimidating.